Revan: Four Thousand Years Later
by Shadowofmordor
Summary: The mission went fine. That is, until the Jedi Hunter showed up.
1. Chapter 1

Hello Revanites, Shadowofmordor here, and welcome to the Matrix Reload*coughing fit* I mean, the placeholder chapter for the new story. Note: This will not be as bad as the Matrix Reloaded. I'm going to have a little thing here, and everyone who comments has a vote in four sections: Who likes who, Characters you'd like to see(first), What powers Raven has at the start, and How Raven's family makes their appearances. After this, there will be a quiz for any of you who play SWTOR. Finally, there will be a teaser for the first chapter. If no one votes, I decide, meaning that if you are the only one to vote, you get to decide. _Comprende?_ Ready? Good. Snowball. Go.

WHO LIKES WHO

1\. Raven-Sabine(obviously)

2\. Ezra-Sabine

3\. Red-Green-Moreena Krai(Props to any of you who know who she is)

4\. Red-Green-Sabine(pick one, pervs.)

-Moreena Krai(I have limited options, dammit)

6\. Raven-Moreena Krai

CHARACTERS YOU'D LIKE TO SEE(Note, these will not appear until later)

1\. Clan Skirata

2\. Kage Warriors of Quarzite(I checked)

3\. Singing Mountain clan

4\. Darth Malak

5\. Bastila Shan

6\. My Level 65 Swtor main.(Limited options apply)

WHAT POWERS RAVEN HAS(PART 1: NEUTRAL)

1\. Push

2\. Super Speed

3\. Force Sense

4\. Pull

WHAT POWERS RAVEN HAS(PART 2: LIGHT)

1\. Healing

2\. Protect(Green aura)

3\. Absorb(Blue Aura)

4\. Mind Trick(Turn enemies into friends or possession, choose one if mind trick is chosen)

WHAT POWERS RAVEN HAS(PART 3: DARK)

1\. Grip

2\. Lightning

3\. Rage(Red aura)

4\. Drain

HOW RAVEN'S FAMILY MAKES THEIR APPEARANCES

1\. Dead(Ghost)

2\. Some alive or cloned with conciousness

3\. All alive(some die, rest crippled, only one remains)

4\. Only one survives(In any way you come up)

SWTOR PLAYERS(OR MMO PLAYERS) QUIZ(NOT REALLY)

I intend to use three names from SWTOR, please note they will all be different classes. Comment the name.

REQUIREMENTS: Good Roleplay name(Within star wars boundaries, so, "FrodoBilboclone7854" is out. Level fifty or above. Prove it by... actually, you decide how best to prove it. I have characters that meet the requirements, so go ahead so I don't have to reveal my eight go-to names.

And finally... drum roll please, (BADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADA) the moment you've all been waiting for...(BADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADABADA) THE TEASER SECTION!

* * *

Lothal

" _Kanan! Hera's picked me up. Wha's your ETA?"_

Kanan dived behind a wall as several lasers filleted the space he had just abdicated. He plucked his comlink off his belt, fired blindly around the wall, and yelled into the device.

"Ran into a little trouble! Got a plan. Tell Hera to meet us west and up of the rendezvous point!"

" _How are you getting up? There aren't any-"_

Zeb's voice fizzled out as Kanan shut off his comlink. Reaching around the wall, he fired blindly again, then waved in Ezra's direction, whilst Sabine covered the two from behind the hovering cargo pallet. Kanan's apprentice yelled something. Kanan yelled back over the laser fire.

"I can't hear you!"

Ezra shrugged, then ducked as several blasts slammed into the crate he had taken cover behind.

Kanan sighed, leaned around the wall, pegged the offending stormtrooper, came back around, and reached through the Force.

 _The water towers either side of this alley, between us and the stormtroopers. Got it?_

Ezra grinned across the battlefield, fingering his lightsaber. Kanan made an 'oh no you don't' expression, then signaled with his right hand.

 _Three._

Sabine pegged two stormtroopers, leaving twelve remaining.

 _Two._

Ezra closed his eyes and summoned the Force.

 _One_

Sabine tossed a miracle, whilst Kanan and Ezra focused on their respective water towers, and pulled.

Half of the stormtroopers saw it coming. The others took an unconscious bath, as the lucky ones ran. Or, rather, unlucky, as these were caught in the blessed area of effect of Sabine's miracle. As the dust cleared, Ezra took a flying leap up the west water tower, helped Sabine, and looked at Kanan.

Kanan yelled to Ezra. "The cargo! Help me!" He saw Ezra's look of realization, then he lost the view as their eyes closed while they concentrated. When they opened their visual organs, the cargo was up on the roof, and Sabine was programming the autopilot. As Kanan joined the others on the roof, Ezra popped his obligatory 'I'm awesome' comment.

"I did that pretty well, right?" Was the teenager-esque comment.

"You did okay. Let's move." Came the obligatory, tired of this teenage ego response.

That was a mistake, as Sabine heard the tone and jumped in.

"Great, glad you two are bonding. Can we go?"

Without further ado, the three ran across the rooftops, the conveniently levitating cargo moving at a slightly faster pace with it's untiring repulsors and machinery making the only noise in the Lothal night. As the trio neared the extract point, Kanan felt a disturbance in the Force, halted the party, and looked at Ezra. "Did you feel that?"

Ezra nodded, all teenage attitude gone. "Yeah, what was that?"

"Might be us, rebels."

All three readied weapons at the unknown voice that seemed to appear from nowhere.

A figure sprang out of the night's darkness. The figure rolled onto the rooftop, came up standing with the skill of a long practiced martial arts master. Wearing armor and a mask, but no visible weapons, the only defining feature was the neon red hair.

"You were supposed to wait and ambush, Red."

Another figure seemingly appearing next to the one called Red. Again armor and mask, but armed with nothing, this one's only defining feature was his dark green hair, seeming nearly black in the lightless conditions.

"Ahh, you know I don't wait for my prey to come to me."

The rebels inched forward, intent on surprising their adversaries during their byplay, when yet another voice out of nowhere came.

"This mission ends here. Time to fight."

A figure stepped out from the darkness _behind the rebels,_ causing the three to spin. A man in full Mandalorian armor was revealed from the shadows. The red trimmed armor and various weapons on his person marked him as a bounty hunter and the leader of the three. The mask was oddly familiar to Kanan. Then he realized with a tingle of fear, that this man was one of the Mandalorians trained to take down Jedi, and this fight would not be easy.

* * *

There we go, that's the preview. Be sure to take the quiz at the top, and comment your answers. GLORY TO REVAN #REVANITEFOREVER


	2. Chapter 2

Little update. I have a timeframe for my update for the first chapter of this story: Labor Day. Thanks, and see you then. Shadowofmordor, out.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time you see this, I will be (hopefully) done with this chapter of the story. For any of you who have read the teaser, you already know that Raven, Red, and Green are here right from the start, as adversaries. By this time, I know some of you have taken the quiz and commented on it, so yeah, the reveal (and credits to those who voted) will be at the bottom. Enough with all this ado about nothing(get it? get it? no? okay...) So, with no further ado, here we go.

* * *

Lothal

"Kanan! Hera's picked me up. Wha's your ETA?"

Kanan dived behind a wall as several lasers filleted the space he had just abdicated. He plucked his comlink off his belt, fired blindly around the wall, and yelled into the device.

"Ran into a little trouble! Got a plan. Tell Hera to meet us west and up of the rendezvous point!"

"How are you getting up? There aren't any-"

Zeb's voice fizzled out as Kanan shut off his comlink. Reaching around the wall, he fired blindly again, then waved in Ezra's direction, whilst Sabine covered the two from behind the hovering cargo pallet. Kanan's apprentice yelled something. Kanan yelled back over the laser fire.

"I can't hear you!"

Ezra shrugged, then ducked as several blasts slammed into the crate he had taken cover behind.

Kanan sighed, leaned around the wall, pegged the offending stormtrooper, came back around, and reached through the Force.

The water towers either side of this alley, between us and the stormtroopers. Got it?

Ezra grinned across the battlefield, fingering his lightsaber. Kanan made an 'oh no you don't' expression, then signaled with his right hand.

Three.

Sabine pegged two stormtroopers, leaving twelve remaining.

Two.

Ezra closed his eyes and summoned the Force.

One

Sabine tossed a miracle, whilst Kanan and Ezra focused on their respective water towers, and pulled.

Half of the stormtroopers saw it coming. The others took an unconscious bath, as the lucky ones ran. Or, rather, unlucky, as these were caught in the blessed area of effect of Sabine's miracle. As the dust cleared, Ezra took a flying leap up the west water tower, helped Sabine, and looked at Kanan.

Kanan yelled to Ezra. "The cargo! Help me!" He saw Ezra's look of realization, then he lost the view as their eyes closed while they concentrated. When they opened their visual organs, the cargo was up on the roof, and Sabine was programming the autopilot. As Kanan joined the others on the roof, Ezra popped his obligatory 'I'm awesome' comment.

"I did that pretty well, right?" Was the teenager-esque comment.

"You did okay. Let's move." Came the obligatory, tired of this teenage ego response.

That was a mistake, as Sabine heard the tone and jumped in.

"Great, glad you two are bonding. Can we go?"

Without further ado, the three ran across the rooftops, the conveniently levitating cargo moving at a slightly faster pace with it's untiring repulsors and machinery making the only noise in the Lothal night. As the trio neared the extract point, Kanan felt a disturbance in the Force, halted the party, and looked at Ezra. "Did you feel that?"

Ezra nodded, all teenage attitude gone. "Yeah, what was that?"

"Might be us, rebels."

All three readied weapons at the unknown voice that seemed to appear from nowhere.

A figure sprang out of the night's darkness. The figure rolled onto the rooftop, came up standing with the skill of a long practiced martial arts master. Wearing armor and a mask, but no visible weapons, the only defining feature was the neon red hair.

"You were supposed to wait and ambush, Red."

Another figure seemingly appearing next to the one called Red. Again armor and mask, but armed with nothing, this one's only defining feature was his dark green hair, seeming nearly black in the lightless conditions.

"Ahh, you know I don't wait for my prey to come to me."

The rebels inched forward, intent on surprising their adversaries during their byplay, when yet another voice out of nowhere came.

"This mission ends here. Just walk away."

A figure stepped out from the darkness behind the rebels, causing the three to spin. A man in full Mandalorian armor was revealed from the shadows. The red trimmed armor and various weapons on his person marked him as a bounty hunter and the leader of the three. The mask was oddly familiar to Kanan. Then he realized with a tingle of fear, that this man was one of the Mandalorians trained to take down Jedi, and this fight would not be easy.

Ezra, full of confidence as always, stepped forward and yelled at the Mando. " _You_ just walk away. Don't want to get hurt, do ya?"

Kanan shook his head, remembering to reprimand his padawan later, when the man responded. "I'm not worried at all. In fact, now that you've been insolent with me, I _am_ going to hurt you. Got that, squirt?"

Kanan stopped Ezra with a hand before the teenager could tick off the Mando more. He tried to be diplomatic. "Look, we want this cargo. So we could avoid a fight at all, if you just stepped out of the way."

The Mandalorian laughed. "Well, if you must know, the mission is not specifically to take you down. It's to stop you from getting that cargo. So I'll cut you a deal. Move. I detonate the cargo and me and my group get paid and we go our separate ways. How about it?"

Kanan considered the deal, then looked at the unnamed man. "Sorry, that isn't gonna cut it. We could take the cargo out and you could blow up the crates, but not the cargo. How does that work out?"

The Mando shook his head. "Well, it looks like a compromise is not going to be reached. We're gonna fight. HEP!" His sentence was accentuated by a grunt as he flipped acrobatically over the rebels. Landing in front of his group facing the rebels, he spoke. "Let's do this. I'm getting hungry."

Kanan, Ezra and Sabine spread to match their enemies. Ezra against Red, Sabine against Green, and Kanan against the Jedi Hunter. Then Kanan spoke two words. "Ezra, lightsabers." Ezra grinned.

"Finally." His bright blue blade sprang to life, illuminating the dark rooftop. Kanan's activated a second later, his longer, thinner blade blazing into existence.

The three bounty hunters considered their opponents, then moved. Raven drew two swords, tossing one of them to Red, and charged. Ezra and Red did the same, while Sabine fired at Green, who dodged every shot while working his way ever closer. The four melee combatants met in the middle. The exchange Kanan had with the Mando confirmed his fear. The way the man in armor deflected, attacked, and dodged in perfect counters to Kanan's own Soresu confirmed that the man was, in fact, trained to hunt Jedi. They both sprang back, panting, even from such a short exchange of even skill. Ezra's encounter had been less than even, not in his favor. The man with the red hair had accelerated just before the two clashed, swiping with the short sword, but even then Ezra barely managed to dodge. Then he realized he hadn't dodged, and the front of his shirt was slashed horizontally, with a graze on his skin. Ezra looked up at the bounty hunter to speak, then realized he wasn't there. His Force senses warned above.

"Whoa!" Ezra rolled forward as the red haired hunter drove down with the sword, right where Ezra's head would have been. Seemingly content now that the first bout was over, the man moved away from the rebels to the left, and readied his stance.

Meanwhile, Kanan and the Mando were engaged in battle. The two leapt, struck, and blocked, neither able to touch the other. Then the Mando made a mistake. He dove forward bent double with his sword in front of him. Kanan struck with his lightsaber, right at the man's head, and connected, a killing strike. Until the cerulean blade bounced off the mask. Left with nowhere to go, Kanan jumped straight up. He thought he'd gotten away, until a wrist launcher cord wrapped around his boot, and pulled him into the ground, where it let go of him.

Whilst the four melee fighters were doing their things, Sabine was busy keeping Green away from her. The only reason she'd succeeded so far was because of her skill at leading her target. Still, Green advanced closer and closer. Somehow Sabine knew that if he reached her it would be over. Out of options, she threw one of her two last miracles. Then, impossibly, it was no longer a miracle, but a grenade with the pin pulled flying back at her. Her reverse helmet cam showed her that if she threw herself backwards, she would go over the side of the roof with the grenade, and that it would explode before she got out of the blast range anyway. So she did the only thing she could. She dove, rolled, and leapt forward, colliding and grappling with Green. She punched at him as they rolled, then she felt him grab her arms. The only thing Sabine could do was grunt as Green kicked her off of him and backwards. She landed on the roof next to her friends. Then as the bounty hunters regrouped, the rebels realized what had happened. They had switched sides. The hunters had the side with the cargo. Then their leader spoke.

"Sorry, but we win this round today." And Green held up a grenade. Then Sabine realized that during their scuffle, he had stolen it. They had all been manipulated. They had lost. Then Sabine had an idea.

She held up her detonator and said, "Actually, I have remote detonator. SEE YOU!" And she pressed it.

And unluckily for her, it did not explode. Green spoke.

"Sorry, but I disarmed it. We win."

Sabine grinned under her helmet.

"If you disarmed it, it won't explode. So you can't do anything with it."

The Mando spoke. "Well, about that..." And as Green tossed it backwards, the Mando unholstered his blaster and shot it as it landed next to the cargo. After a deafening explosion, the Rebels stood up. The only thing that remained of the hunters was a note, saying ' _Told you the mission was only to keep you from getting it. And no, we are not dead."_

Pissed off and out of control, Ezra strode into the common room after the rebels. A few seconds after they had thrown themselves onto the couches, Hera walked in.

"What even _happened_ out there? It was going fine, as far as I could tell. Then, you don't show up, I get worried and go get you, and all _three of you are nearly unconscious_ with scorch marks all over the rooftops, and the cargo in bits! What the kriff happened?"

Sabine leaned her head back against the wall.

"Bounty hunters. There was a Mandalorian there. They outmaneuvered us and blew it up. I didn't really see more than that. I was trying not to die."

Kanan coughed.

"That Mandalorian was a Jedi Hunter. They originated from the Death Watch, trained by to hunt Jedi. They kind of went out of business after the Jedi were eradicated. This one obviously went rogue."

Ezra had been fuming this whole time.

"Well how the karabast do we fight him?! He isn't a Jedi! So we can fight him!"

Kanan shook his head.

"No, we can't. The only way to take him down is to outlast him, in that armor. And the armor reads your nerves, so even if you are tired, it will move for you. It's also beskar, meaning that we can't cut through it. Even hitting it with an EMP won't work. It's electronics and tech make it as heavy as it is. If we disable all that, it will lighten, and while he can't use any of his tools, he can move even faster. Sabine, give me your helmet. I want to see something."

Sabine handed Kanan her helmet. Kanan plugged it up to the holoplayer, and turned it on. He cycled to the camera which had recorded Kanan and his adversary's fight, and hit play. The fight went on, just as it had before, until Kanan made his deadly stroke to the head. And it bounced off. Kanan shut down the holoplayer.

"He is next to invincible in that armor. All we can do is pummel him until he falls unconscious. That is the only way to fight him."

Zeb spoke up.

"Well, it was on'y one job, righ? Maybe he moved on."

"No. If he really is trained to hunt Jedi, then the Empire will keep him around. That's just the way they do things."

* * *

Imperial HQ, Lothal

Raven, Red, and Green stood before Tarkin and the Inquisitor. Red and Green had removed their masks, revealing their youthful faces. All three were seventeen. Raven, Tarkin noticed, had not removed his helmet, nor any of his armor, despite the heat. Tarkin realized they had been standing there for a good thirty seconds, so he spoke.

"You did manage to stop the rebels getting the cargo, but _you_ blew it up. I'm considering holding payment on that fact."

Red started to speak, but was silenced has Green swung his hand up over Red's mouth. Raven, seeming not to notice, responded to Tarkin.

"Actually, we stole the cargo. It's out back in an extra garbage container. Sanitized and perfectly clean, I assure you. The cargo boxes the rebels stole were filled with junk. I think in the terms of our contract that deserves a bonus. However, I am willing to waive that bonus and just take our original payment on a few terms."

Tarkin stood, dumbfounded. Not only had the bounty hunters deflected the technicality where Tarkin could withhold payment, they had also managed to secure a bonus for doing something beneficial to the employer relating to the job. Then Raven had said something about terms.

"Speak, bounty hunter. Tell me your… terms."

"I'd like to stay on Lothal for awhile. It's been a long time since I've hunted a Jedi able to match me in the short combat we had. I'd like to fight him, one on one, each with the sole intention of killing each other. Of course, your pet Pau'an and Stormtrooper will be on hand in the case I fail, of course. Which I won't. But a smart hunter takes precautions. Be twenty five hundred credits for that job, Governor. I'll come back and see if you've got any more information tomorrow. Fall out, hunters.

* * *

Hi everybody. I know it's kind of a short addon to the teaser I put out earlier, but it was all I could do. I wrote tidbits between uploading the teaser and labor day my deadline, but I woke up on labor day with a crick in my neck. Meaning, I sat in bed all day unable to move my head or shift my legs without sever pain. I recovered enough today to sit here and type this, and I'll take it as a lesson that sometimes, I shouldn't set public deadlines, because I always seem to screw it up. Thank you everybody so much for reading, and I'll take my own advice and not write when I want to have the next chapter out. Glory to Revan, peace out.


	4. Chapter 4

Hello everyone my name is shadowofmordor and I had something to say here but I forgot because my computer made me quit Firefox three times so enjoy the chapter peace out.

* * *

Local Hostel, Lothal

Raven woke up unhappy. It wasn't the room, no, the room was plush and fine and worth every credit spent. It wasn't the bed, either. It was puffy and poofy and comfy. It was comfort. Raven had had a very rough life, from being orphaned as a child, to joining a gang on Coruscant, to bounty hunting with his two friends, he hadn't had much time to enjoy the finer things in life, and that included staying in a comfy room. Now, one thing he enjoyed and would nab whenever he saw it was Tyvian red wine. It wasn't the finest of wines but it was really the only thing he took pleasure in. Raven hated the idea of becoming an alcoholic, so when he did drink it, he drank sparingly, and never enough to want even more. What was better in that aspect was the wine was rare. He knew it was unhealthy to the planet's inhabitants because of the ingredients plus their environment. Raven didn't care. He would often think about it just as he finished off the last two ounces of a five ounce glass, and then his ability to give a kriff would be hindered by the fact that it was down his gullet already. Raven, for the first time in a long time, wanted some of the stuff when he didn't have it in his possession. So, he swung his legs out of bed, stood, and stretched. Or, at least, he tried. Raven hated being comfortable, especially when sleeping, because it hindered his ability to get up and be a functioning human being. Then, as his head hit the posh pillow, he realized that he hadn't slept well in a long time and he could get coffee later. Raven closed his eyes on the pillow. Five more minutes.

* * *

Red and Green sat together at a small table in the hostel's dining hall, nursing cups of coffee, their pastries and cereal long eaten and forgotten. As the two sipped at the restorative drink, Green looked at the chrono on the wall. Ten-thirty AM. They had an hour and a half before they were due to see Tarkin, and Raven was still asleep. Red looked at the chrono, looked at Green, and smiled. In less than five minutes, Raven would wake up to his two friends pounding him with the same posh pillows he'd fallen asleep on. In less than twenty minutes, he would chase Red and Green down the hallway, who shouted apologies as their leader viciously attacked them, dual-wielding pillows. In less than forty minutes, they would be suited up. In less than an hour, they would move out, Red and Green suffering from debilitating pillow wounds to the head. In one hour and thirty minutes, they would meet with Tarkin. In one hour and forty minutes, they would be on the hunt for the rebels once again.

* * *

Kanan, Ezra, Sabine, Chopper, and Zeb moved under the Imperial supply building. It wasn't that they needed the stuff, even if it was a bonus if they could get it. No, they were here to trap the Jedi Hunter. The plan was simple, and Kanan had explained the how and why to them earlier.

"Jedi Hunters possess the ability to cloak themselves from Force-users like me and Ezra. That Mandalorian armor is normally immune to convenient scans, but another Mandalorian heat scanner can see him. So, Sabine and Chopper will watch and scan while the rest of us secure the supplies. If he does show up, Sabine and Ezra will take care of his friends, Chopper will comm Hera and get the supplies out, and Zeb and I will fight the Hunter. Got it?"

They had no questions. Now it was time to do. Sabine and Chopper positioned themselves on the second-floor balcony in the storehouse, and the rest started securing the supplies. Just food and maybe some credits, it wasn't _that_ important, but it was sufficient for their trap. They had done the best they could. Now to wait.

* * *

"It's a trap." Green spoke softly, no trace of emotion. He wasn't worried. It was a simple expression of his point of view.

"So wait. Wait until they give up, and when they take whatever's in those boxes and go, _then_ we ambush them. Right?" The last part was directed at Raven.

"No. Let's spring the trap. But not in the way they're expecting. Move."

The three disappeared in different directions. A few seconds later, they were in position.

"Hawk three. I'm here."

"Hawk two. In position."

"Hawk one. Give me twenty seconds, then meet me on the second floor balcony."

Raven looked down on the Mandalorian girl and her droid. Both had cameras facing behind them, one in her helmet, one on the back of it's top. There was no above camera. Raven himself had one, precisely for the reason that he was about to exploit. A second later, a stun bolt hit the droid. As it slumped to the floor, the woman spun to look, hand reaching for either a comlink or a blaster, Raven didn't care which. As she spun, the second stun bolt took her in the back. As Raven jumped down and landed on the balcony, Red and Green appeared out of the darkness. Exactly twenty seconds later.

* * *

Kanan knew something was wrong. If the bounty hunters were coming, it had been too long of a wait. He commed Sabine. "Everything fine, Five?" Only a second later she responded.

"We're all good. Seen anything?"

Kanan definitely knew something was wrong now. Sabine's voice was too deadpan. He put it down to nerves. It was her voice. Everything was fine. "No Five, we're drawing a blank. Maybe it's time to back out."

"Now wouldn't that be a shame." It wasn't a question.

Sabine would never have said that. It wasn't nerves. These guys were-

"Game over. We win."

The voice had changed. It was no longer Sabine's voice. It was the Jedi Hunter.

Kanan responded instantly. If he was here, it meant Sabine was disabled. Or worse. "ZEB! Get Sabine!" Ezra had already drawn his blade as two of the hunters emerged from the darkness. The Hunter and his green-haired friend. It happened exactly as the last time, the Hunter tossing a short blade to his friend and taking out his own longer one. Kanan barely had time to wonder where the red one was before he saw him. Red was in front of Zeb, preventing him from reaching Sabine. With a roar, Zeb engaged his bo-staff and stepped into battle. All this Kanan saw in a second before the Hunter attacked. With his vibrosword to Kanan's lightsaber, it was an even fight. As the two dueled, duck and strike, slam and dodge, Kanan saw glimpses of the other battles. Green versus Ezra. Without Red's speed, Ezra was holding his own, but Green's nigh-impenetrable defense(Kanan swore later he had seen fists, legs, and heads pop out of various places to block Ezra's attacks.) Ezra, for his part, was using his effective blaster-saber combo to face Green, and they seemed stalemated. Red versus Zeb. Red was making small, near-ineffectual attacks with a small knife, but it would only be so long before he scored a telling blow. Zeb was swinging wildly with his bo-staff, but Red's speed kept him ahead of the glorified club. Those two fights were nearly even. But still, it wouldn't matter if Kanan were to be defeated, and the Jedi Hunter's skill with the saber and knowledge of Kanan's fighting style were advantages Kanan himself didn't share. So he defended himself desperately against the onslaught and looked.

1\. Armor. The hunter's armor was invulnerable to lightsabers, so his blaster wouldn't affect it.

2\. Armor joints. Those could be striking points, but the Hunter kept them all moving, never presenting a good target.

3\. Armor tech. There it was. If he could use force lightning, he could disable the armor's systems, allowing Kanan to gain the advantage.

Problem: Kanan couldn't do that. He could try to outlast the Hunter, but the way it was going, eventually, the Hunter would break through his defense and skewer him. And Kanan didn't fancy being Jedi shish-ke-bab. So the only option now was retreat. And once again, unless they allowed Sabine and Chopper to be captured, they couldn't retreat. All they could do was fight and hope for a miracle.

And somehow, that miracle came.

It was a lucky break for Zeb. Red was far too fast for Zeb to accurately hit him no matter how hard he tried. Eventually, Red stabbed deep into Zeb's club arm, and it lurched to the left. Unfortunately for Red, he was running to the left. Fortunately for Zeb, he saw all this. The club struck Red in the stomach. Even through the armor the hunter was wearing, it knocked him across the room and nearly unconscious.

Kanan was unaware of these developments until suddenly he wasn't fighting anymore, and neither were Ezra and Zeb. The hunters were across the room, the Jedi Killer spraying fire with an old-fashioned blaster carbine-Where did he get that?-and forcing all three Specters into cover. When the fire stopped, all three hunters were gone.

On board the Phantom, Kanan sighed. They had found Sabine and Chopper, but the hunters had left no trace of their presence. Kanan knew, just as he had last time, they would see the hunters again. And this time, a lucky hit wouldn't be enough to save them.

* * *

Moff Tarkin's office, Lothal City

"So, even with the fight 'even' as you say, you still couldn't defeat the Jedi, could you, bounty hunter?"

Under his mask, Raven gritted his teeth.

"This was never intended to be a capture op. We didn't have the supplies or the manpower for that. However, I have gained enough information to lure them somewhere I want them. This time, it will be a capture op, and we will not fail."

Tarkin remained impassive.

"See that you do not." Quick dismissal. Raven understood. He turned and walked out.

* * *

So there we go. Chapter three. It's heating up a little bit. As always, please follow and review. It warms my cold black heart when you do. Dismissed, Revanites.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't know what you're talking about. It hasn't been over a month since I updated. Shut up. Here's a new chapter. Maybe this'll shut you up. Just kidding, Sorry about the long wait, the five/four/six/three of you(it's been a while since I checked, ok?) that follow this story. Now, I guess, I'll get into it. Enjoy.

Ezra was the only one awake on the Ghost. Even Chopper was powered down, charging at the aft end of the ship. At the fore, Hera was asleep in the cockpit. Sabine had stayed up painting what was left uncovered in her room, but had fallen asleep a few hours before. Kanan had gone to bed early, and was due to wake up any minute. Zeb had fallen asleep after Kanan, but he would sleep for some hours yet. So Ezra, unaware of who or what had woken him, stumbled out of his room, unable to stand Zeb's snoring. Ezra was so tired that his legs moved seemingly on their own, through the kitchen and into the main room, where he sat down on the couch, blinking. Ezra didn't know how long he sat there, or whether he'd fallen asleep again. All he knew was that suddenly, he knew of a small blinking light on the holoterminal in front of him. The blinking light that meant message. This information took some minutes to sink into his brain, and when it did, Ezra shot up, fully awake. His thoughts of shouting out were silenced when he realized that the rest of the crew was sleeping. Almost of it's own volition, Ezra's hand moved toward the terminal. As he realized what he was doing, Ezra hit the button labeled 'Play Message'

And Ezra's enemy flared to life on the terminal. The Mandalorian Jedi Hunter Kanan had previously fought stood, hands at his sides, staring out of the blue light of the hologram. Ezra had just gotten over his shock when the man spoke.

"Hello. I don't know when this message will be received, or who will receive it among you rebels. You don't need to know me, you don't need to know my name, all you need to know is my location. It is in coordinates included in this message. Now, I know some of you may be thinking that it's obviously a trap. It's not. I know there is a Mandalorian among you, and I swear on my honor as a Mando that there are four people present. Myself, my two teammates, and one person that shall provide, let's say, incentive, to one member of your 'Specters'. Look for yourself. Here she is now."

The Jedi Hunter stepped out of the viewing range of the holocamera, and Ezra involuntarily leaned forward to see who it was. A girl, about Ezra's age, tied to a chair was in the projection now. Although it was invisible to the projector, Ezra knew she had red hair. Her grey eyes conveyed panic, and upon seeing the holocamera, she began struggling and squealing, attempting to escape her bonds.

Ezra's childhood friend, Moreena Krai, had been captured by the hunters.

Then, as Ezra's eyes began to light up with rage, a pair of unseen hands dragged the chair off camera, and the Mandalorian stepped back into range.

"There. A small incentive. Don't worry, we haven't done anything uncivilized toward her. . . yet. If you don't show up, we might. So, I advise you show up. The coordinates are included, as I said, in this message. Farewell."

The terminal shut down, even as the coordinates opened on the screen. All thoughts of sleep erased, Ezra stood up and shouted into the Ghost.

"KANAN!"

The crew of the Ghost sat in the main room. The message had been played twice more, for all the crew to see. And now, they began to speak.

"We have to go!"  
"We _have_ to save her!

"No, we have to make a plan!"

"It's a trap!"

"No it's not!"

"Beep boop beep!"

They carried on like this for several minutes, before Kanan stood up and shouted.

"QUIET!"

As the rest of the crew calmed, Kanan began to talk.

"I need to hear everyone's reasoning on this, after I explain mine. Then we make a plan."

Kanan paused for a moment, considering his next words.

"He's after me and Ezra. There's no other reason he would capture Moreena unless he wanted Ezra to come. He wants me as well, because he knows if Ezra goes, I go as well. What I'm curious about is why he took Moreena specifically. Ezra, how hard would it have been to find out you two were friends?"

Ezra, having explained his friendship with the girl previously, stood. "Pretty hard. We didn't exactly hang out much, or in public, and when we did we mostly just ate and talked. I didn't take her along when I stole anything, her parents would have killed her. And I can't think of anyone that knew it that would say anything to a bounty hunter."

Kanan spoke again, already through with Ezra's assessment. "So somehow he found out, and he captured her. But one thing I'd like to know is this; how did he find out before ever meeting Ezra? We fought them at the supply station two days ago. He didn't talk to Ezra at all then, and only once when we first met them. And there wasn't enough time between that first battle and now for him to discover their friendship, discover her location, capture her, and come back. We have to consider that it is a trick."

Sabine stood up at this. "It's not a trick. He swore on his honor as a Mandalorian. That's not something taken lightly among our people. Whatever he's attempting to accomplish by taking Moreena, he told the truth in that message."

Kanan looked as if he wanted to say something, but Hera stepped in before he could.

"Even so, that wording bothers me. He didn't explicitly say anything about hurting her or just being after you two. We are going to go after her, but we need to make a plan or this could go very wrong. It's not just our lives at stake here."

Kanan nodded, opened his mouth, and was interrupted yet again. Zeb's gruff voice, louder than normal, filled the room.

"Who cares!? He's kidnapped an innocent person! It's over the line, and we have to rescue her!"

Ezra, spurred on by this outburst, continued his earlier rant.

"He's right! He won't take us by surprise this time either! We can get the drop on them instead!"

Kanan held up a hand for silence. It took a moment, but eventually all was quiet.

"Okay. We'll go. But first, here's what we'll do…..

[Scene Break]

Raven and Green stood together in one of the darker rooms of their quick-but-quality base. To anyone out of tune with the pair's emotions, it would have looked like they were arguing. To anyone in tune, they would know the pair was simply having a conversation. Raven was talking almost unnecessarily quietly.

"Make sure Krai eats. We don't need her passing out while we're fighting."

Green nodded slightly. "Red is with her right now. He says she doesn't want to eat but she is. She refuses to eat very much, however."

"Of course not. I imagine being bait doesn't sit well for her, especially because she's bait for her childhood friend and his newfound family. Still, she has to eat, otherwise she'll be even more of a liability."

Green made a face. "I wish we could have found some other way to lure them here. I find this distasteful."

Raven shrugged. "So do I. But we can't fail this time, and if our plan goes off correctly, we won't. Especially if our little secret pays off."

It was almost invisible in the darkness, but both Raven and Green grinned slightly. "I think the rebels will be most surprised when we unveil it."

Raven's smile grew broader. His dark eyes gave his chiseled face a slightly crazed look in the half-light. "Yes they will, my friend. Yes they will."

[Scene Break}

Most of the time, the Ghost crew didn't exactly do stealth. Their group consisted of a huge, trigger-happy Lasat, an explosives obsessed Mandalorian, a naturally noisy teenager, and a Jedi who still thought dramatic exits and entrances were the coolest stuff ever. Still, that wasn't to say they weren't capable of it. The Lasat's three-padded feet gave them a surprisingly silent walk when they wanted to. The Mandalorian had gone through both Mando and Imperial stealth training. The teenager had grown up a thief, and one does not simply be a noisy thief. The Jedi, of course, had the Force. What more was there to say?

So, as the four crept through the entrance hallway to the Jedi Hunter's base, they were surprisingly quiet about it. Kanan led, Ezra followed, and Sabine and Zeb brought up the rear. As they reached the first barrier, a door, Kanan held up the sign for stop with his left hand. With his right, he drew his lightsaber, but didn't activate it. He ghosted up to the door on pins and needles, only for it to slide open unexpectedly. He didn't exactly fall through the door, but it was enough to make Ezra grin. The Specters walked silently into the almost cavernous room. They had about reached the center of the room when they heard a muffled -almost gagged- cry. All of them turned together towards the sound, and they could just barely make out in the darkness a figure, bound to a chair.

Ezra's eyes widened. "Moreena!" And he shot off across the room.

Kanan reached out, but he was too slow. "Ezra! Wait! Zeb, go after him!"

Zeb muttered an inaudible insult, but chased after the errant Jedi apprentice anyway.

Kanan's mind ran through possible situations, but then he was overcome with the irrevocable urge to _move._ He rolled to the side as a figure swung out of the darkness, as if on a rope. It tackled Sabine and the two rolled together away from Kanan, then came up standing opposite each other about ten meters away.

It was about this time that Kanan looked around and realized the Ghost crew was completely separated. He activated his lightsaber and was about to jump in when an electric sound went off above them.

Kanan looked up right as the laser gates activated and the lights came on. When his temporary blindness subsided, the ghost crew was completely and truly separated. Each was imprisoned in laser gate squares, and he went cold as he realized the bounty hunters had appeared.

"Welcome to our humble abode, Jedi. I don't believe I've ever had such famous guests." The Jedi Hunter stood across from Kanan, Vibro-Sword drawn.

Kanan faced him and moved into his stance. "Just means you won't get away this time," he grinned at the bounty hunter.

The masked man inclined his head, and Kanan got the feeling whoever was beneath was smiling. "Could say the same to you. Of course, neither of us are concerned for ourselves, but maybe our respective teams. . ."

Kanan looked around. Yet again, the two crews were fighting. Zeb faced off against Red, who once again employed his tactic of running around too fast for Zeb to hit. However, this time Red wasn't messing around. The exotic-haired man was actually leaving behind afterimages of his movements as he struck at Zeb again and again. Zeb's heavy strikes had kept him from defeat so far, but that could only last so long.

Kanan looked at Sabine. She too was engaged in a duel with her own opponent. Green ducked and dodged his way closer to her, reminiscent of their first fight on the rooftops a few days prior. Kanan cast around for Ezra, but before he saw his apprentice, Kanan was struck with an overwhelming feedback of emotional hurt from the boy. He actually staggered a few feet. The Jedi Hunter inclined his head at the stricken man.

"Looks like the trap has been sprung."

That was all the armored man said before leaping at Kanan, who barely managed to deflect the first blow. Then the errant Jedi had no time to worry about what his apprentice was going through. He was too busy worrying about keeping his opponent from making Jedi sushi.

[A few minutes prior]

Ezra barely noticed when the laser gates went up. He didn't even register his friends beginning to engage. He didn't hear it when Kanan activated his lightsaber. Ezra's whole focus was on the girl tied to the chair. As he neared her, she looked up. Her grey eyes were filled with tears as she fought her bonds. He reached her and was on his knees immediately, working at her. . . nonexistent handcuffs? Ezra looked up at her in confusion.

"Moreena, what-"

"I'm sorry, Ezra."

He had just enough time to realize she wasn't gagged before she twisted in her chair and slammed her booted foot into his chest. Ezra hit the ground a few feet away as Moreena stood and pulled out a Vibro-Blade. Ezra's eyes widened.

"Moreena, what are you doing? I'm here to rescue you!"

The redhead smiled sadly at him.

"I'm afraid I don't need rescuing, Ezra."

For the first time, Ezra's hand closed around his lightsaber.

"What are you talking about? They kidnapped you, that's why I'm here!"

Moreena's smile turned almost bitter.

"They didn't kidnap me, Ezra. I wasn't bait. Or, I was, but I was voluntary bait. They didn't take me to get to you, Ezra. It was my job."

Ezra took his lightsaber off his belt almost unconsciously.

"What are you talking about?"

His childhood friend raised her blade.

"They aren't my kidnappers, Ezra. They're my friends!"

Ezra was too shocked to speak. His pain coursed through his veins, and he activated his lightsaber.

Moreena swayed into a stance. "I'm truly sorry, Ezra. But this is my job."

Then she charged.

[With Zeb and Red]

Grunt.

"Stop moving!"

Swish.

"No!"

Slice.

"Hold still!"

Smack.

"Not happening!"

Stab.

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Whack.

"Gotta catch me first!"

And so it went. Zeb swung his staff in random directions attempting to hit the red blur. Red, in his turn, made mostly-ineffectual slashing and stabbing attacks while dodging the crushing blows the bo-staff would inflict. Still, Red was quite effective in enraging the purple-furred Lasat. Then Red suddenly danced backward out of range of the staff, panting.

"Damn. You don't give up, do you?"

Zeb snarled.

"Never! Now hold still and let me hit you!"

Red grinned under his mask.

"Sorry about this, but it had to be done. Gotta end this quick, ya know?"

Zeb smiled almost ferally.

"I couldn't agree mo-"

Zeb's jaw went slack. Blue lightning crawled up Red's body. Sparks flashed. Then, Red disappeared.

And reappeared behind Zeb. His dagger swung down.

[With Sabine and Green]

Sabine had practiced fighting him somehow, Green could tell. He was still working his way closer to her, but much slower than the first time they had fought. She was much more effective at placing her shots to keep him back. He hadn't been hit yet, but it was anyone's guess as to how long he could keep it up.

For her part, Sabine was getting nervous. All her practice had paid off, it seemed, but not enough to hit him. She knew, eventually, either she would shoot him down or he would get close enough to end her. And he would end her, she knew without a shadow of a doubt. Green and his compatriots had been given their orders. So she played along, hoping that somehow, maybe, she would win this.

Green was getting tired. He'd been dodging her shots for almost two minutes now. He knew he had to wrap this up quickly. He spun around her next bolt and then rolled away from her and held up his hands in a placating gesture. As Green hoped, Sabine stopped firing.

"What?" She almost snarled.

Green tilted his head. "You've improved since last we fought. Most impressive. I've not fought many opponents like you, that require. . . special measures.

If Sabine got nervous, her voice didn't show it. "What special measures?" She leveled her pistols at him.

Green cracked his neck, then his back. "Hm. Hard to explain. How about I just show you?"

He charged, straight in at her. Sabine was so shocked at this she momentarily forgot to fire, and this hesitation allowed him to close half the distance between them. When she did begin firing, her shots were inaccurate. He was almost to her now. Green leaped up over her and slammed down with all his might. Or, he would have, if Sabine hadn't shot him through the chest twice.

Sabine lowered her pistols. It was a mistake. As Green's dead body fell without a sound, another shape slipped out behind the corpse. Sabine was too slow to raise her weapons.

[With Kanan and Raven]

Sparks flashed. The air crackled as it was ionized. Electric sounds split the air. The Mandalorian and the Jedi dueled within their laser gate. Upper swing, lower stab, middle slash. Kanan lost himself in the duel, sinking into the Force, for it was all that kept him alive. Unbeknownst to him, Raven did almost the same thing, slipping into the training of his childhood. They weren't really dueling anymore. It was a dance of blades, the blue of the lightsaber and the silver of the sword. If anyone asked them to recount what had occurred, neither would be able to. Raven would later watch it back off his armorcam, but it was like watching a first-person holovid. He couldn't identify with the person in the duel. Neither combatant knew how long they were in this state, but both realized when they left it. Kanan left his left open to attack. Raven kicked him, using his armor boosters to maximize the damage. If Kanan hadn't been a Jedi, he would have broken several ribs. Instead he flew backward, almost into the laser gate. He teetered on the edge, feeling the end of his ponytail get seared off. He regained his balance just as his enemy came bearing down on him, blade extended, pointy end ready to pin Kanan to the laser gate. Kanan sank into the Force. Time slowed, and Kanan regarded Raven with an almost detached curiosity. His charge was slowed to a crawl for Kanan. He didn't know how he knew what to do; it certainly wasn't any maneuver he'd learned during his training. As Raven drew close, Kanan gathered his strength and leaped over, flipping around midair to land behind his opponent. As time sped up again, Raven spun just in time for Kanan to land behind him. His eyes widened behind his mask. Kanan Force-pushed.

[With Ezra and Moreena]

Kanan had said once that Ezra was not a defensive person. Ezra's instinct anytime he pulled out his saber was to go on the offensive and not stop until he won. It was certainly what his Imperial dossier said. So Moreena was quite surprised to find him using a near-perfect copy of Kanan's Soresu to deflect her every attack. Ezra hadn't struck at her once, and she was starting to get tired of it. Sure, Raven could use his sword like this, but his blocks weren't meant to block, they were meant to deflect. Every strike of hers against Raven when he'd trained her had resulted in her stumbling in one direction off balance, or a foot in the small of her back pushing her down, or other ways to push her off balance until eventually she performed an attack that he could pin her with. Unlike Raven, however, Ezra was simply turtling; Using his defensive skill and reflexes to form an iron wall that would be nearly impossible for a non-Force user to pierce. And without the Force, she would tire much faster than Ezra would. Eventually, she pulled back and yelled at him.

"Are you just going to stand there?! Move!"

Ezra didn't respond to her, and when she looked into his eyes, what she saw shocked her. His dark blue eyes, normally full of light and good nature, were dark and dead. He had withdrawn into a shell against the pain of her betrayal, and a spike of guilt shot through her at what she was doing to him. Then she shook it off. She was Moreena Krai, and she wasn't going to let her job get to her. She charged at him one last time. She raised her sword overhand and slammed it down on Ezra's defense. Instead of immediately withdrawing, she let her hands stay where they were, deliberately leaving herself open. As she'd hoped, Ezra swung into a counterattack for the first time, driven by reflex. Then he stopped, a mere few inches away from bisecting her at the waist. His eyes blinked back to life, and his voice was questioning.

"Moreena," he said, "What happe-"

She slammed the hilt of her weapon into his forehead.

[With Kanan and Raven]

Raven was lifted off his feet and slammed into the laser gate. His cry of pain was stopped by his helmet, but it was there all the same. His beskar armor was the only thing that saved his life. As Raven fell to his knees off of the laser gate, the back of his armor smoking from the contact. His eyes flickered almost unbelievingly to Kanan under his mask, then they closed and he crumpled to the floor.

Kanan stood over his defeated opponent. He deactivated his lightsaber and looked around, expecting his crew to have defeated their opponents. He couldn't be further from the truth.

The hilt of Red's short sword hit like a rock between Zeb's eyes, and the huge Lasat fell without a sound.

Green charged his knee into Sabine's chin, knocking her helmet askew and she swayed almost gracefully on the spot before falling as well.

Moreena Krai (what?) slammed Ezra with the hilt of her weapon, and the teenager crumpled.

Then they all looked toward him, expecting to see Raven standing victorious over Kanan, but no. Their body language (and Moreena's face) all betrayed shock. Then they readied their weapons.

Then the ground shook. Moreena fell to the ground. Red took an unintentional knee. Green managed to stay upright. Kanan simply swayed with the movement of the earth. His mind worked to figure out how he could rescue all of his crewmates. He knew the chances of winning against all three were very low. Still, he thought, he had the protection of the laser gates to figure out a plan.

Then the universe decided that Kanan was out of good luck. The laser gates shut off. His three enemies only took a glance at each other before charging. Kanan readied his weapon, though he knew it was hopeless, he swore to go down fighting. Just before they met, a small voice stopped them all in their tracks.

"Wait." Raven's small, wounded voice still carried such authority that it made all of them look at him. The Mandalorian struggled to his knees. "Don't be idiots. That wasn't a," He coughed. "Groundquake. Look." He raised his gauntlet, and a hologram flickered to life. It took Kanan a second to realize that it was the status of the laser gates. Kanan would've thought that the laser projectors would have been knocked out of alignment by the groundquake, and by the other's body language, they thought that too.

That assumption was quickly destroyed. The laser projectors were fine. They had simply lost their power source. Kanan was wondering how exactly they could have lost their power, when Green frowned at the hologram.

"That can't be right. We have three backup generators. No way all of them were knocked out." Red and Moreena were still edging closer to Kanan.

"Who cares?" Moreena spat. "We can fix them later!"

Raven shook his head softly. "This isn't a technical issue. The generators weren't damaged by the groundquake. They were destroyed."

Red stopped moving and turned to Raven, his voice suggesting he'd been insulted somehow. "No. I tuned them myself. They were fine." Moreena looked like she wanted to agree, but Green cut in. "Sabotage," His tone betrayed no indication of the chill he'd just felt. Both Red and Moreena spun to face Kanan at this and raised their blades.

"You did this." Red was angry, Kanan could tell. The anger in the Force was almost palpable.

Raven managed to stand. "Don't be idiots. We watched him the whole way in. _They_ did this." And he tapped another button on his wrist.

It took Kanan a second to realize that it had changed from a status display to a live holocamera. And then everyone in the room felt the same chill Green had a few moments before.

Imperial saboteurs were working at the secured door to the base, and in the distance, Kanan could see Imperial Dropships on the way.

Raven turned off the camera and lowered his wristcomm. "We've been betrayed."

The Empire had arrived.


	6. Chapter 6

Well. That last chapter, I hope, was an exciting return to RFTYL. I toyed with continuing on after that exit but I decided against it; none of the possible endings after that sounded right. I'm also messing about the idea of making the spaces between updates longer, but chapters longer as well. As of right now (10/31/17) I want to update on a bi-weekly schedule, starting tomorrow. That may change, but fear not. I don't intend to stop updating this story until it's done. Which, fair warning, might be earlier than most expect. I want to make sequels, dammit.

[Start]

If Kanan could describe an uneasy alliance, this would be it. He and Raven stood together, their blades drawn, in the center of the room. Any stormtroopers breaching would see them first. The man still wore his mask, but when Kanan commented on it, he'd simply shook his head and replied, "Not the time, Jedi."

Oh well. Kanan could understand wanting to keep his face hidden well enough. He'd been debating with the idea since Order 66. As he looked around the room, Kanan marked the positions of his team in his head. Zeb and Red stood on either side of the door. Between Zeb's strength and Red's speed, they could deal with whatever cannon fodder the Empire sent in first. Green and Sabine stood off to the left of the Kanan-Raven pair, crouched behind some crates. Green held a blaster carbine, and he'd signaled he could make clones with said carbines given the time. Kanan had decided to interrogate him about this ability later. The final pair, Ezra and Moreena, stood to the right in a stack of crates, hiding in them. They were the trap. The two seemed to be quite happy to be back on the same side, unlike the other three pairs. Zeb and Red were nearly openly hostile to one another, having just recently stopped insulting each other. Green and Sabine were slightly better, with Sabine shooting occasional glares at Green, that he was thankfully choosing to ignore. Out of all of them, Kanan and Raven seemed the best, but the tension between them was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. Granted, actually attempting to would have resulted in a lightsaber to the neck and a sword up the arse from the twitchy warriors. The eight of them stood (or sat, in Ezra and Moreena's case) for nearly twenty minutes.

When the first laser cutter stabbed through the door, all of them jumped, and Ezra's muffled, "Ow," floated from his box. It was around this time all tension melted from them, all focused on the door. Zeb and Red readied their weapons. Green and Sabine took aim. Ezra and Moreena's hands were on the opening latches. Then the laser cutters withdrew. When the doors blew in, none of them made a single move. Not when the stormtroopers rushed in, and not when they raised their rifles at the only two visible people in the room.

The captain of the squad, identifiable by his orange pauldron, aimed down the sights at Kanan.

"Surrender, rebels," He snarled from under the helmet.

Raven shook his head slightly, and all rifles pointed towards him at the motion.

"They never learn, do they?" He asked to no one in particular.

Kanan nodded in return. "Doesn't seem that way, no."

Zeb and Red, for once perfectly in sync, loomed out of the darkness behind the unlucky stormtroopers.

[Skip]

Ezra and Moreena had been in tight situations before. Or, rather, Ezra had been in tight situations before that he'd unintentionally dragged Moreena into. Unlike those situations, this situation was quite literally tight. She shifted, and the hilt of her dagger poked his arm. He scooted sideways in response, and the sudden motion swung his lightsaber hilt into her leg. They looked at each other for a moment before dissolving into quiet giggles. Just as quickly, however they stopped.

Before Moreena had left Lothal, they'd always been able to tell what the other was feeling. But now she was back, and Ezra couldn't tell a single thing about her. This bothered him, considering that it had been less than a year since they'd seen each other, but still she seemed an entirely different person.

In her turn, Moreena examined Ezra as well. What she saw there didn't necessarily bother her rather than shock her. He still telegraphed his emotions with every move he made, but those same movements were different. Moreena hadn't known how to read people back when she left, but now that she did, she remembered that his body language had almost always conveyed one of two things. One, he wanted something. Two, he wanted to run away from something. She knew he had more emotions than that, just she didn't remember Ezra showing them. But those same movements now conveyed entirely different things. Ezra was more confident, he was stronger, and he'd found his place. He was no longer the same street rat she'd left almost a year prior.

Ezra had been trying to work up the courage to say something the entire time they'd been in the crate. It wasn't because being near her made him nervous. He simply didn't know what to say. The middle-class girl who'd never wanted for anything from him but his company was easy to talk to. This hardened warrior she'd become, well, he didn't know. He still couldn't get her face out of his head, the one she'd made as he almost bisected her by reflex.

Unbeknownst to Ezra, Moreena was going through the same thing. She found it difficult to say anything to him, given she knew next to nothing about his life now. When they had just been children on Lothal, one of her joking openers had been, "Hey Ezra, steal anything important lately?" He would laugh and show her the most recent thing, then regale her with the tale of how he'd gotten it. This Ezra? Kill lots of stormtroopers recently didn't sound right.

As it happened, Ezra worked up his courage first. 

"Moreena, I-" He was cut off by the sound of a laser cutter stabbing through metal, and both teens jumped. Ezra cried out as his head hit the top of the crate.

"Ow!"

[Skip]

Zeb and Red panted, standing over the defeated bodies of the nine stormtroopers that had faced them. Kanan was just starting to wonder if that was it when, of course, all hell broke loose. The doors (and a sizable section of wall) blew inward, miraculously missing Red and Zeb. It was around this moment Kanan realized exactly how much the Empire wanted to win here. Troopers swarmed into the room, but it wasn't just any kind of troopers. Their armor seemed to have been lightened for mobility, and they didn't have blasters. Instead, they had threatening looking sparking sticks.

"Riot troopers!" Raven yelled. "They have stun batons, don't let them touch you!"

 _Easier said than done,_ Kanan thought. As the swarm reached him, five troopers charging, Kanan fell into the Force. He sliced one baton in half, then pushed its' owner into his comrade. Two down. He turned his body sideways, and the trooper that swung hit his friend. Three. Kanan's lightsaber raked across the teamkilling trooper's chest. Four. The last trooper managed to block Kanan's saber with the sparky end of his baton. They pushed for a moment, before Kanan kicked out, breaking the man's knee. Five. He looked at his Mandalorian partner in time to see the masked man vault over his last opponent and drive his sword into the trooper from behind. Kanan could tell the man was grinning through his body language. He turned his head to survey the rest of the room.

Of course, everything had gone wrong.

Red and Zeb had started out well. Their combination of light and heavy strikes had quickly defeated any who came close, but it couldn't last forever. Zeb took a stun baton to the back of his knee, stumbled, and then was swarmed by riot troopers. Red attempted to speed in and pull him out, but was forced backward by sheer numbers, his speed the only thing keeping him from Zeb's fate.

Green and Sabine had held them off nicely at the start, accurate shooting from Sabine plus Green's overwhelming clone fire equals a near-impenetrable wall of laser fire. Of course, sheer numbers again won out, and the riot troopers managed to force them from their crate cover. Green was engaging his clones in melee combat to give himself and Sabine time to retreat, his blaster rifle long since discarded. Still, his clones were struck down faster than he could create them, and he was tiring.

At some point during the battle, Ezra and Moreena had exited their crate. They had started off well, much like everyone else, but a combination of not being experienced as their respective teachers and numbers led to Ezra Force-throwing Moreena away before being overwhelmed, his saber dropping to the floor, extinguished. She scrambled towards Raven and Kanan.

Red, too, was retreating, forced back by the almost endless swarm of riot troopers. They'd stopped coming in, but there was still more than thirty of them in combat. Another thirty at least lay sprawled on the floor, dead, unconscious, or otherwise unable to continue fighting.

Green and Sabine had gotten separated, and now Sabine, too, was vanishing under the riot troopers. Green was sending his clones to save her in vain, while he himself ran to regroup with Kanan and Raven. Finally, the riot troopers stopped moving, standing in a semicircle around the remaining rebels.

Green and Red, both bruised and battered, stood protectively in front of Raven, who in turn stood in front of Moreena. Kanan stood next to Raven, desperately attempting to think of anything that could save them, but nothing came to mind. He had no Force abilities strong enough to take out the remaining troopers. He doubted any of the others with him had anything that could pull them out.

He was wrong.

Raven began to back up, until he was behind Moreena. "Guys," he began, "Plan Zero."

All of his team reacted instantly.

"What?!"

"Right here? Right now?"

"Are you sure?"

Raven drew his blade and tossed it to Green. "I'm sure. Do it."

Kanan, thoroughly confused by this point, turned to Red. "What's Plan Zero?" He questioned.

Red side-eyed him through his mask. "Protect Raven. At all costs."

Kanan stared. "Seriously?"

The red-haired bounty hunter nodded. "Protect him. He'll get us out of here."

Kanan was about to loose the million other questions on his tongue before Green jumped in.

"Shut up and do it. Ours is not to question why, ours is but to do and die."

Kanan had heard that platitude before. Once during Jedi training, once during the Clone War. His Jedi teachers had simply said it to teach him that sometimes Jedi were called to die, and sometimes they wouldn't ever know why. He knew now why all those Jedi had died during the war. It was because of the Sith. Sometimes he thought those that had died prior to Order Sixty-Six were lucky. They had fallen believing for what they fought for. Jedi that died after had been killed because they were the targets of the new order. The second time he'd heard it had been from clones. Some of them had said it because of how often they were used as cannon fodder. Not all Jedi had seen them as people, after all.

Kanan wondered where Green had heard it. Then he decided he could wonder later, and place his trust in his new allies. He led the charge against the riot troopers, hoping desperately for a miracle.

[Skip]

Moreena was incredibly unsure about Plan Zero. Unlike Red and Green, who'd been with Raven for years and knew exactly what the plan entailed, she'd been running with them for a little over six months. When they'd gone over their Plan Zero drill, she had questioned what exactly it meant. Red and Green shook their heads, and Raven had responded cryptically. "Pray you never have to find out." This didn't sit well with Moreena, a naturally inquisitive person. So it was with half-excitement, half-fear she followed Kanan's charge. He might not have known it, but he naturally assumed Raven's role in combat. He was the first to strike, cutting down enemies left and right. On his left, Red picked up his slack, cutting down any trooper lucky enough to get by Kanan. On his right, Green's clones took down trooper after trooper. Moreena, as the newest of the team, went after any hostiles that got by the three in front of her. She got one trooper the whole engagement. She had a lot to learn.

[Skip]

Kanan felt like he was winning. Not a single trooper had landed a hit on him. There were about ten of them, now, and they were pulling away from the four-man whirlwind that was the rebels. Soon, they stood across from each other. The rebels had taken back up to the center of the room. The riot troopers stood near the door, facing them. Kanan took the respite to look back at Raven, who was. . . sitting in meditation position? Kanan almost questioned this, before loud footsteps click-clacked through the door. The shaky lighting, damaged by both fights, illuminated only the newcomer's lower body as he walked toward them. The riot troopers separated into columns, five on each side. Then, following the new man, ten more joined them, and then twenty-one Imperials faced the rebels. The man stopped walking, directly under one of the few working lights, and it illuminated his face for the first time. A Pau'an face.

The Inquisitor had arrived.

The Sith-to-be leveled his unlit lightsaber at the group of four.

"Rebels and dissidents, all of you. You know what I am here for. Give it to me, and I may let you leave."

Something struck Kanan as wrong about that sentence. Still, he knew his answer. His blue blade pointed, almost of it's own volition, at the Inquisitors butt-ugly face.

"I don't care what you want. You're not getting it."

A feral grin split the tall man's lips. "I rather hoped you'd say that. Men!"

His red blade activated with a hiss-snap, and he led the riot troopers in a charge, which the rebels met.

Later, it would be truly embarrassing how easily Kanan had gone down.

The Inquisitor's lightsaber rotated, spinning at Kanan. The Jedi attempted to block it, but the red blade spun too fast. Kanan's lightsaber was flung out of his hand, and it clattered onto the floor, many meters away. Kanan waited for that lightsaber to sear somewhere extremely uncomfortable (head out of the gutter, children) before he felt a hand on his collar. He was lifted, and the Inquisitor tossed him, defenseless, into the riot troopers. Kanan was thankful he didn't remember much after that.

[Skip]

Red saw Kanan disappear into the riot troopers, four of which began beating him with their stun batons. He lost sight of the unconscious Jedi when the Inquisitor ran in front of him. Red raised his small sword, his speed carrying him at the Inquisitor, ready to drive it home. Then the Pau'an deactivated his lightsaber and clotheslined him. Red hit his head as he fell, hard, to the ground. He looked up, dazed, only for the Sith to pull off his mask, revealing his teenaged face. The last thing Red saw was the man's fist coming towards his face.

[Skip]

Green sent his clones out as he'd done hundreds of times in combat. Some went for riot troopers, but the exotic-haired man sent most of them, blades in hand, toward the man that had just knocked out his friend and defeated Kanan in the space of a few seconds. It was futile. As the Inquisitor reactivated his lightsaber, he struck out. The blade speared through one clone's abdomen, bisected another at the waist on the backswing, and spun to decapitate a third. All the clones turned to shadow as they fell dead to the ground. Green charged, creating clones as he went, all running full pelt at the Sith. The man turned towards them and raised a hand. Then Green knew no more.

[Skip]

Moreena saw Green fly into the shadows at the back of the large room ' _It's more like an enclosed hangar than a room,"_ her subconscious told her. He landed with a thud, and all of his clones vaporized at once. And then it was just her against the Inquisitor. She raised her vibro-blade defensively, and froze. The Sith held his hand out to her, advancing at walking pace. Moreena realized he was holding her in place with the Force. She strained with all her might, to no avail. As he reached her, he passed a hand over her face. She fell, unconscious before she hit the floor.

[Skip]

Kanan was unaware of how he'd woken up so fast. He lay there, riot troopers all around him, unable to do anything as Red, Green, and Moreena fell to the Inquisitor. Then he turned, and sighted Raven. Kanan couldn't see it from this angle, but the Pau'an's yellow eyes widened at the sight of him, as if in fear. Then he charged, red blade spinning, and leaped. Not for the first time that day, time seemed to slow for Kanan. The Inquisitor came down, a herald of death, fast approaching the seemingly-unaware Raven. Kanan almost didn't believe anything that happened next.

Faster than lightning, Raven stood, and a shining purple lightsaber appeared in his hand. In one smooth motion, he turned to the side and swung. The blade passed through the hilt of the Inquisitor's saber, barely missing his hand, and cutting in clean in two. Raven completed his turn, doing a full two hundred seventy degrees, raised his hand, and Force-pushed the Inquisitor away. He landed and rolled to his feet on the other side of the room. The Sith assessed the situation, and decided on the only logical course of action.

"Troopers! Take him down!" And he ran. The twenty riot troopers charged. Raven leapt toward them.

His blade cut down two at once, and another on his backswing. His left hand stretched out, pushing six of them into the wall across the room. He ducked beneath a swing he couldn't possibly have seen coming, and bisected the offender at the waist. He didn't stop the motion of his blade, cutting down two more troopers. He wove gracefully around the next few futile attempts to hit him. And then his lightsaber drew an arc of death in the air, slashing left and right, three troopers bisected, two decapitated. He pulled in the Force around himself, and pushed it out, an omnidirectional unstoppable force. The last trooper rolled to a stop, got to his feet, and was blasted by lightning, dead before it pushed him away. And Raven stood alone. His helmet turned toward where Kanan lay, half-convinced he was hallucinating.

"What do you know? Plan Zero worked." And the Mandalorian Jedi crumpled to the floor.

[End]

Well. That was nice. So the updates are now hopefully going to be coming on the 14th and the 28th of every month, but don't freak out if I'm off by a few days. I do have college to deal with, after all. Review answers:

ShipQueen54321: Here you go.

Random Guest: Um… no. I'll admit these characters will grow far more powerful than they did in the show, Ezra especially, but I think that suggestion is a bit far. That would work more for a fic where Ezra is purposely ridiculously overpowered.

Also, a bit about what Raven did before you all call Gary Stu: HE IS NOT ALWAYS THAT POWERFUL. I wanted to explain this next chapter but I don't want to deal with that until the next chapter. Here is the short explanation. Raven simply overloaded the Force within himself. He will have to work hard to reach that level again, if he even can. It's not something he'll be able to do ever again. This was just his way of escaping an impossible situation. I'll explain more in-depth next chapter. See ya!

ALL HAIL REVAN!


	7. Chapter 7

Let's jump straight in, shall we? No prelude. Hamster.

[Start]

Kanan disliked not being able to explain things. He always wanted to be able to recount in explicit detail anything important that happened. Saying to Hera that the Jedi Hunter had turned into a Jedi, cut down twenty riot troopers without taking a scratch, and defeated the Inquisitor, and fainted dead away in under thirty seconds just seemed like it underappreciated the situation. It also led to him sitting in the medbay of the Ghost where Raven lay unconscious, waiting for him to wake up so he could gain an actual explanation. Both he and Sabine had attempted to take his mask off, Kanan for curiosity, Sabine for any medical requirements, but both attempts had been stopped cold by Raven's teammates, Red and Green. Moreena and Ezra had disappeared the instant they'd gotten back to the ship and hadn't been seen since. For the first three hours of waiting, Kanan and Green had sat in the medbay, and the teenager was not at all talkative. It was quite frustrating when Kanan had realized that Green had been leading the conversation in circles and only after an hour had Kanan discovered the ruse. He stopped trying to get answers out of the exotic-haired boy after that. At the three hour mark, Green had risen from his seat and strode out of the medbay, replaced almost immediately by Red, who assumed the same seat. After quickly tapping a message to Sabine, instructing her to speak with Green, he resumed his interrogation on Red, correctly assuming him to be the talkative one.

"Why won't you let us take his mask off?"

Red looked at Kanan, almost surprised. His brown-red eyes narrowed before he answered.

"It's his decision if he wants to show you his face. He'll do it when he feels like it, and not a moment before.

Kanan, encouraged by the straightforward, if somewhat short answer, and continued with his questioning.

"What was with the whole 'bounty hunter' farce anyway?"

Red didn't even look at him this time.

"It wasn't a farce. We've been looking for rebels with Jedi among them for a while now. Wouldn't be the first time we'd stumbled across a 'Jedi' only for it to be some fool with a lightsaber."

"What did you do with those 'fools'?

"We killed them if they were people out for themselves. Empire would still pay us a fee. If they were actively trying to help, we set them up with other rebel contacts and faked their deaths."

"There are other rebels?"

An observer might notice at this point Red had successfully drawn Kanan away from his original line of questioning.

"It's a big galaxy, and we have lots of contacts from our days on Coruscant's Underworld. If you ever wanted a larger rebellion, we could set you up with a half-dozen people willing to supply resources."

And so it went. Kanan kept asking, and Red kept drawing Kanan farther away from the subject of Raven. They did this for almost an hour, Kanan gaining tidbits of important information every now and then, blissfully unaware that Red and Green had discussed this prematurely. Unaware, that is, until a movement from Raven brought both their eyes to him. A quick look at the readouts showed he hadn't woken up, but he was closer to it then he was four hours before. Still, it did succeed at drawing attention back to him.

Kanan, who by now had realized how skillfully Red had played him, was slightly annoyed as he continued his disrupted line of questions.

"Raven. Explain. Now."

Moderately annoyed.

Red sighed. His gambit was up, and an annoyed Jedi was a dangerous thing.

"Which part?"

"All of it. From the beginning."

Red shook his head, leaned forward, and began his tale.

"To understand Raven fully is impossible, even for us. He's never told us what he went through prior to his arrival on Coruscant. I can, however, tell you how we met, and what happened afterward. It all began, for us at least, seven years ago, when Green and I were ten years old. . .

[Skip]

Sabine sat across from Green in the dining hall, observing. She knew from Kanan he was liable to lead her around, avoiding her questions, and in the end giving her nothing. She had tried talking to Red, but he'd pulled his mask on, dropped onto the couch, and went to sleep as soon as he'd gotten on board. Now, three hours later, she watched Green as he sipped his tea. She'd made it for him after he'd left the medbay, asking him if he wanted something to drink. He raised his eyes to hers.

"Thank you for the tea. It's delicious."

"You're welcome. Anything else?"

It was not in Sabine's nature to be subservient, and doubtless he knew that, but she wanted to soften him up, as it were.

"Not at the moment, thank you."

She nodded to him as he lowered his gaze back to his drink.

His eyes focused away from her, she took the time to observe him. She came up with several things;

His hair was not dyed.

His eyes were green.

He was handsome, in a sense.

The fact that she observed he was attractive was insomuch that she was attracted to him (the teenager had knocked her out several hours ago, ostensibly to turn her into the Empire, for Force's sake.) but that it was a simple observation of his physical looks. She'd paid attention to his body language, but he was revealing nothing other than enjoyment of his tea. For all intents and purposes, Green was as laser-focused on his tea as he had been when he'd fought her hours ago. This frustrated her immensely, a fact which amused Green, not that he showed it.

[Skip]

Green was fully aware of Sabine's intentions. That said, a pretty girl his own age staring at him was pleasant, minimized by the fact she would have happily shot him (and almost did) when they had fought. Still, it wasn't hard to focus on his tea, mostly because A) he'd had nothing to drink since before the two groups had fought, and B) he hadn't been lying; it was delicious. Even with the added incentive, he had no intention of answering any of her questions. It didn't stem so much from a desire to keep his secrets to himself, but the knowledge he would say too much if he started talking. Either way, it was funny as hell to piss her off by completely ignoring her in favor of his tea. Speaking of, he decided to actually enjoy it now instead of focusing on her.

[Skip-Several Hours Later]

Red sat alone in the medbay of the Ghost, Raven still sleeping away. Green had brought him tea an hour prior, telling him it was made by Sabine. Any other time the redheaded teenager would have teased his friend about the girl that made him tea, but he was too tired. Even his three-hours on the Ghost's couch didn't help. And now that the cup lay empty on the countertop next to him, he had nothing to do but sit and hope that Raven woke up soon. Green had gone to sit in the living room, waiting for the Phantom to return. Hera had spoken to them for a while, but then had gone to sit in the cockpit, doubtless waiting for a distress signal that hopefully wouldn't come. Red had barely paid attention two hours ago when Zeb had opened the door and called Kanan off somewhere on a mission. Something about an Imperial Communications tower. Moreena had wandered in around twenty minutes ago, taken one look at Raven, then at Red, and wandered back out. A quick wrist-scan of the Ghost told him she was passed out in the cargo hold. Red arbitrarily wondered if Ezra and Moreena had disappeared to 'get to know each other' as it were. He doubted it, though. More likely they'd gone up to the roof to talk. That had to have been an interesting conversation. As he thought about the two, Red didn't realize he was letting his mind slip. A second later, he was asleep.

Only to be woken up twenty seconds later when Raven shot to sitting position with a shout. Red jackknifed to his feet, went too high, and smacked his head off the ceiling. By the time they had both calmed down, Raven swiveled himself to face Red, swinging his legs off the bed as he did so.

"Where are we?"

Red had signaled Green in the commotion, but he knew that his more mature friend probably wouldn't show if he hadn't been alerted by all the noise. The medbay was soundproofed, after all. The crimson-haired teen resigned himself to answer Raven's questions.

"We're on the Ghost, the ship of the rebel crew we fought."

Totally unexpected, Raven relaxed slightly.

"Good. That means they're willing to give us the benefit of the doubt. Did they try to take off my mask?"

Red nodded.

"Of course they did. Green and I just gave them the default answer."

Raven angled his head in a way that made Red know he was smiling. Then he looked around, as if just registering they were alone in the room.

"Where's Kanan? I'm sure he wouldn't have moved away until I woke up."

Red, though not a true Force-Sensitive, sensed something behind those words- something bad.

"He, Ezra, Sabine, Zeb, and that ornery little droid got called away on a mission."

Raven stiffened almost imperceptibly.

"They're in trouble. Come on, we have to tell whoever pilots this ship."  
Raven stood quickly, and was out of the medbay before Red could follow. By the time he was out, he found the masked man standing there waiting for him.

"Which way to the cockpit?"

Before Red could respond, a female voice, one he knew but unfamiliar to Raven, interrupted.

"Good, you're awake. Chopper sent a distress signal, and they're about to dock with the Ghost. They might need medical attention."

Raven and Red both nodded, and followed Hera Syndulla down the hall.

When they entered the main room, Green quickly stood, wide-eyed.

"Raven! How did you-"

Hera interrupted again.

"It doesn't matter right now. The others might need help when they dock."

As she said this, the ship shook slightly, the telltale sign of the Phantom docking. A minute later, Chopper rode down the ladder, followed quickly by Sabine, Zeb, and Ezra, who looked panicked.

"Hera!" Ezra's voice confirmed what his face said.

"It's Kanan!" He's-"

"He's been captured."

All eyes turned toward Raven. Hands twitched toward weapons, and Ezra actually lost his panic and took a step toward the masked man.

"And how would you know that?"

"That's what woke me up. I dreamed he'd been captured."

The Ghost crew exchanged looks of confusion and mistrust. Red and Green met eyes, silently telling each other to go down fighting if necessary.

Ezra took another step toward Raven.  
"You're not a Jedi. You can't dream things like that."

Hera winced slightly. "Ezra. . ."

Raven knew that Kanan had told her, but everyone else had been unconscious when he'd taken down the imps. He didn't know why Kanan hadn't told them, but he was thankful for it now. He raised his hands to his mask.

"You're right. I'm no Jedi."

He unsealed his mask, making a small hiss of air as it disconnected.

"The Inquisitor isn't a Jedi either, but he uses the Force."

Raven's fingers made deliberate movements, unclipping his mask from its locks.

"So what exactly is stopping me from using it?"

As his mask fell from his face, Raven drew his lightsaber, lightning fast. It activated with a _snap-hiss_ , illuminating the room- and Raven's face- with violet light.

His two-tone deep brown eyes stared out from a face that looked older than it was. His dark hair was slicked back into an almost mullet hairstyle. There was a deep scar across his chin, almost covered by a thin layer of facial hair.

"My name is Raven Shan, and I have balance in the Force."

[End]

Have I mentioned I'm bad at writing dramatic intro scenes? This came out a little too close to his original intro scene from the first story. I'll fix it in the next chapter, which should be around the 14th. Anyway… REVIEWS!

Random Guest: Not at all late, my friend. It won't be late until every question in it is answered. I've considered Raven-Sabine, honestly, but if I do it won't be soon. Heck, it might not even be in this story.

Review*. Singular.

Anyway. . . moving on.

See ya'll later.

Shadowofmordor


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